Get me to the church on time

After we blew through our family and wedding party photos we headed off to the church which was less than three minutes from the inn. We actually arrived about 10 minutes early so we were able to relax a bit and enjoy the stunning weather. I still can't believe it was 82 degrees and breezy in early September!


I love this close-up detail photo of my bouquet and engagement ring. And ladies -- THIS is why you get a manicure on your wedding day.


Some people set aside money in their budget for an antique car. While I think that is a nice touch, we just couldn't afford or justify this as we were walking from the ceremony to the reception.


Instead we were driven by Mr. Onion's best friend/GM and his wife in their BMW. Not too shabby! In fact, how to get to the church wasn't something I had planned in advance (I know -- GASP)! Our GM was all over this though -- honored and excited to get to spend a quite moment with us before the ceremony.


OK, I'm ready...can we go now?!


The front of the church as we arrived.


I didn't carry a purse -- it was wonderful to have nothing to remember but my bouquet! My BM carried a little extra lipstick for me (remember to ask your make-up artist for this as you will need to reapply throughout the day).


Finishing the touch-up with the wedding party all ready to go.


I just can't resist, my flower girl is so sweet!


Mr. Onion's best friend, his wife and Mr. Onion. No one remembers what was so funny -- this photo cracks me up!


More silliness before Mr. Onion went around to the front of the church to wait with our minister. He was holding my bouquet for me and Daria thought this was too cute.


My adorable dear friend from college with her boyfriend (they flew from Milwaukee to join us -- ended up taking a week vacation in New England and ending their trip with us). The night before the wedding I asked her if she'd greet people at the door and offer them a program. She was the PERFECT person for the job -- I love her smile! Note: She is wearing a JCrew Bridesmaid dress she wore in her sister's wedding earlier that year. See -- you CAN wear a Bridemaid dress again!


Here is my DIY program. Printed on additional card stock and a monogram from Creative Montage. I think they came out quite well.


Momma Onion getting excited for the ceremony to begin!


Dear family friends who have known my family since before I was born. The woman on the left I call my "aunt" and the woman on the right was my grandmother's best friend for 30 years (you might remember from a previous post that my grammy passed a few years ago).


Mr. Onion's Grandmother and his brother's girlfriend patiently waiting for the ceremony to begin.




More friends get settled pre-ceremony.


Our minister with her warm welcoming smile!


I love this photo. This is the moment that it hit me -- I was about to get married to the love of my life. I wasn't scared, just a little nervous that in a moment everyone would be focused on me walking down the isle. I closed me eyes, took a deep breath and a moment later we were told we were ready to begin.

Up Next....the ceremony begins.

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: First Congregational Church, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram's Bridal Atelier
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose's Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion's suit: Alan David Custom
BM Dresses: Ann Taylor Celebrations Collection
GM Suits: Rental from Dante Zellar

Wedding Rings

Looking for unique wedding rings? I came across Dawes Design today and just got lost on her website looking through all the stunning pieces. I love unique jewelry and each of these pieces are so interesting. Many of the pieces are designed to be stackable so you could wear multiple rings together.



The designer, Jennifer Dawes, recently launched Sustainably Beautiful, her initiative in creating jewelry in a socially and environmentally responsible way. She only uses recycled gold, conflict free diamonds and responsibly mined stones. "I try to leave as small a footprint on this planet as possible." I love the conflict free diamonds! This is so important to me.

I'm planning on checking out some of the NYC locations where her pieces are sold to see them in person. Check out her website for more eye candy!

Wedding Party & Family Portraits

Last time I shared photos of our wedding party and family getting ready for our quick portrait session. Now I'll share the portraits with you. No matter how much you love "documentary" style photography, you really want to have a few pictures to frame for parents and grandparents when all is said and done. Daria and Andy had a way of making everyone feel and look relaxed so these images don't feel stuffy.


Mr. Onion with his brother and parents.


With Mr. Onion and my soon to be in-laws.


With my parents and brother.


With my parents.


With Mr. Onion's family - mom, dad, brother and grandmother.


Mr. Onion with his brother. I love this picture because it's so them -- laughing and smiling!


Mr. Onion's parents -- aren't they a handsome couple? They celebrated their 35 year wedding anniversary the weekend before our wedding.


My beautiful flower girl -- she turned 8 a few days after the wedding.


Great photo of her tulip bouquet. Because she is such a mature little lady I wanted her to have a bouquet too, and tulips are my favorite flowers.


My girls! The bridesmaids are wearing Ann Taylor Celebration's dresses and our flower girl's sash is also from Ann Taylor. Their beautiful dangly pearl earrings were part of my gift to them and are from Dasha Boutiques.


The entire wedding party.


A fun moment of me with the guys.


This is Mr. Onion's favorite photo from this part of the day. From left to right -- His best friend/GM, Mr. Onion, his brother and his father.


My lovely bridesmaids. Don't they look elegant?


Stunning photo of their dresses and beautiful bouquets.

Up Next...the ceremony is about to begin

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: Willard Street Inn, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram's Bridal Atelier
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose's Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion's suit: Alan David Custom
BM Dresses: Ann Taylor Celebrations Collection
GM Suits: Rental from Dante Zellar

Wedding Party and Family

After Mr. Onion and I took pictures at UVM we headed back to the Willard Street Inn to take photos with our family and wedding party. At this point we were a bit behind schedule so the photo sessions got cut short. I felt a bit rushed but was amazed that Daria and Andy still managed to get so many great shots. We literally had about 20 minutes to take all the family/wedding party photos before heading over to the church with 5 minutes to spare before the ceremony! Note: Photos galore below!


This picture was important to me because we had a picture of us taken on the back steps at the inn from our first trip to Burlington (2005) early in our courtship (do people even use that word anymore?) -- see it here.


We are running up the back steps at the inn so we can take pictures with everyone before the ceremony. Starting to get really excited.


With my beautiful flower girl. She is the daughter of a dear friend and colleague of mine who surprised us later at the reception (stay tuned) with an unexpected treat.


I've known our flower girl her whole life -- here we are when she was little. Photo: Stuart Feldman


My MIL looking lovely. When we finally decided that Momma Onion would be wearing black I gave my MIL the green light to wear black as well. It was then I remember I'd picked out this beautiful black dress for her the year before for their 35th wedding anniversary dinner that she could wear again! Hooray to not having to spend more money.


As I mentioned in earlier posts, my brother wore formal Scottish attire -- a kilt (in our family’s tartan) and what they call a "Prince Charlie" tuxedo jacket. I have to say, he looked pretty sharp. We bought this outfit on a family trip to Scotland almost 12 years earlier!


Here is a full length photo of his outfit.


And this is my favorite picture of me and brother Onion in years! We clean up pretty well don't we? And he's single and in medical school -- look out if you have single friends :)


BIL Onion hugging Brother Onion.


BIL Onion hugging Mr. Onion (he likes to hug as you can see).


Mr. Onion hugging his grandmother (so cute, right)?


Mr. Onion's best friend/GM (also a great friend of mine for 11+ years) smiling at me proudly -- he's like another big brother really.


With my best friend (since we were 5 years old) -- one of my beautiful BM's.


Mr. Onion with his best friend/GM.


Another BM looking stunning. She was my first friend in NYC when I first moved here in 2003 for an internship. I love this photo of her -- she's smiling in the middle of a conversation, the earrings look great, the flowers look great...


And my third BM/best friend from college. Her laugh is totally infectious! Aren't my friends lovely? I'm pretty lucky!


Another one of Andy's cool angles. I am quite little (5'3/4") but here I look like a doll!


Wonderful BM who turned into the expert at putting on boutonnières.


MIL proudly snapping a photo of her boys.


BM taking a photo of our cutie pie flower girl with her parents.


Casual shot of me. I love how my veil is blowing in the wind.


Daria catching a smooch in the mirror in the enrty way of the Willard Street Inn.

Up next...family and wedding party portraits.

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography
All flowers: Fresh Floral Design Studio
Location: Willard Street Inn, Burlington, VT
My Dress: Romona Keveza from Mark Ingram's Bridal Atelier
My Veil: Two tier elbow length from Rose's Bridal, NYC
Mr. Onion's suit: Alan David Custom
BM Dresses: Ann Taylor Celebrations Collection
GM Suits: Rental from Dante Zellar

OK, Bee Honest

So Miss Penguin's recent post about being a weddingbee addict had me laughing so hard and I love that so many of you responded. Mrs. Butterscotch was the first to chime in and admit she started a blog just to apply to be a bee.

**raises hand** I did too.

So after I read the ENTIRE post out loud to Mr. Onion I said, "I wonder how many other bees started a blog just to be a weddingbee?" to which he said "Forget that, how many bees AND readers started a blog to apply to be a bee?"

So ladies...come clean. Did you start a wedding blog just to apply to the bee like I did?!

PS. For all of you girls who aren't married yet and think you'll "kick the habit" post wedding -- you are sadly mistaken. It's like West Side Story (cues music) -- "Once you're a bee you're a bee all they way from your first DIY to your last dying day!!"

PPS. Note: I wrote this post at 11:47 PM...enough said.

My First Etsy Purchase

So Etsy is all the rage on weddingbee. I had never purchased anything on Etsy (or Ebay for that matter) but was sucked in today because of Miss Lovebug's post about cufflinks for Mr. Lovebug.



She blogged about Etsy seller Keys And Memories so I had to check it out. And I ended up, in a matter of minutes, ordering the beautiful cufflinks pictured above as Mr. Onion had admired a similar pair months ago that were almost $100 more expensive (the above were a steal at $40). I'll put them away for his birthday (love having a great gift months in advance).

So this is where you come in -- I need your help bees and bee readers. I had intended to have custom cufflinks made for Mr. Onion for the wedding but ran out of time (and to be honest, money). Here was my idea: Mr. Onion is a car enthusiast and he used to own a first edition VW R32.


Photo from www.thecarconnection.com

If you didn't know, you would think it was a GTI, but it was actually a pretty awesome sports car. He pre-ordered it because there were only 2000 being sold in the US, so it was a big deal. He LOVED that car. But he loves me more, so he sold it when we moved to NYC. I wanted to have custom cufflinks made with the cars logo.



Can any of your help me find a custom jeweler? I'd love to start on this project now so I can have it for our 1 year anniversary. He gave up the car for me so I'd like to give him a little piece of it back.

Thank you kindly,
Mrs. Onion